On the Horizon
by IheartOakenshield193712
Summary: AU :: Inspired by epiphany and POTC 5 international trailer :: Adventures are over. It is time for Henry to say goodbye to those he met and reunited with. Though he was a young man, he never forgot the stories his mother would tell and the one phrase she repeated to him every day.. as he waited for his father to come home.


**Hello!**

 **Thought I'd pop in and publish this before the movie comes out. This is for my friend who I first told this epiphany to. :)**

 **Happy Reading**!

* * *

 _ **Present:**_

"You're not leaving, are you?"

Henry shrugged. "I don't think a pirate is suitable for a lady."

"After all we've been through-" She couldn't bring herself to argue. He had been talking of leaving for weeks. She couldn't ask when he'd be back, if he'd be back... "Where will you go?" she tried instead.

"Aboard the Dutchman, say goodbye to my father," he replied, avoiding her eyes. "Then ashore. Maybe stop in Tortuga."

She narrowed her eyes. "Don't make jokes, Henry."

He grinned. Then he looked at her.

Her breath hitched as he stepped closer, leaning towards her. His calloused hand curved around her cheekbone. His voice was like velvet.

"Keep a weather eye on the horizon."

She nodded wordlessly, her throat tightening.

Those were the words of a traveler, a wandering man, a bedtime story he had always heard. And that was his goodbye.

* * *

 _ **Past:**_

Every night, from the day he was born to the day he declared he was not a boy anymore, Elizabeth sang to him the lullaby her mother sang to her and her father read to her when she was young. She told him bedtime stories of her and Papa and the famous pirate Captain Jack Sparrow.

Then she would tell him throughout the day of his early years (and later when he requested it) about his grandfather and how the man would have loved him. She spoke of his grandmother who would have been smitten with him.

Then she told him of his Papa - the brave and handsome and strong man who loved him very much. Who wanted to see Henry as much as he wanted to see him. Who thought of his family every day.

Who was saved by a good man but forced to sail the seas forever.

And who was allowed to step on land once every ten years.

x.x.x

 _Keep a weather eye on the horizon_

He always repeated those words every day - ever since he could remember, Mama always told him that - before going to bed, just after waking up, and every time the words would pass his lips, he'd bolt to the window, hoping to see that flash of green that his mother told him about, the change in the wind that would signal his father had come home.

He had heard her stories every night from the time he was little and refused to find sleep in the middle of the early morning (as she put it) to when he was six years old right before bed to now, that even though he was a grown man (9 years old) he'd still ask to hear the story of how Papa and Mama helped Captain Jack Sparrow escape the gallows.

That one would always make Mama laugh.

But the one he wished to hear most was the one he could not bring himself to request. She had never told him the truth of it.

 _"Your Papa is a brave and courageous man, and he loves you my dear," she whispered in his ear, pulling him close. "Captain Jack Sparrow-" she made a hesitating noise "- is a good man. And he saved your Papa. But Papa and I had to pay a high price. And now he can step on land once every ten years."_

 _He looked up at her for she had stopped speaking. She had a faraway look in her eye, and he didn't ask for more._

Then she would whisper, "Keep a weather eye on the horizon." She would kiss his head. "And he'll be here before you know it."

There was a change in the wind one day.

And he was outside, waiting, watching the horizon.

He saw Mama going about the day like it was any other.

"When the sun sets, there'll be a flash of green," she seemed to read his mind. "There is still time."

And when the sun began to set, he bolted outside once more. His heart was racing and the sun seemed to slow down as he waited eagerly. He heard her footsteps in the tall grass and he felt her stop beside him. He kept his eyes where the sun met the ocean.

Her arm rested on his shoulder and pulled him close.

Then the flash of green and he looked up at her, excitement, happiness, wonder, amazement, everything filling his smile. She looked at him, her smile matching his.

Then they waited, and he saw his father and he couldn't sleep that night knowing his Papa that Mama had spoken about all his life was finally here. But Mama had told him to lie down, that his body was tired, that Papa would tell him a bedtime story as he fell asleep, that she needed alone time with Papa, but that she would wake him first thing in the morning.

The day that followed was over too soon.

Tears flooded his eyes as he and Mama said goodbye to Papa. He'd not see him again for another ten years.

But the universe had other plans...

* * *

 _ **Present:**_

He found his father once more, and just like before, it came to an end too fast.

Will embraced Henry for the final time.

Last time he saw his son, the boy was just over nine years old and looking more like Elizabeth than him. But now as Henry stood in his arms, he heard Elizabeth's voice in his mind on that day he came home.

 _"He looks just like you," she said. Her contagious smile grew and he couldn't help but copy her._

 _He chuckled and took another look at his sleeping son. "He has your eyes," he said softly, looking up at his wife. Though sadness tugged at the corners of his eyes, he remained composed and even for the entire day he spent on land..._

When he had seen Henry again, he was met with the lad's striking eyes. And he was reminded of Elizabeth and the awful truth that he could only step on land once every ten years - seeing her beautiful face once a decade.. it hurt him like hell.

But if Jack hadn't done what he did, he would be dead, leaving her a widow and childless.

He cleared his throat and pulled back from the embrace. He laid a hand on Henry's shoulder and looked at his son's face, searching his brown eyes. His time with Henry had come to a close, but this wouldn't be goodbye-

"Keep a weather eye on the horizon."

Henry nodded. "Always," he said, giving a smile. He turned to leave.

The corners of Will's eyes crinkled as he smiled at the reply he received. He knew it in his mind but it hit him in the gut then, that Elizabeth must've mentioned him, told stories of him every day for the whole of Henry's life.

With words lodged in his throat, he watched his only son leave the Dutchman to go ashore and lead his own life.

He looked up at the sky. His ten years were almost up.

Soon, he'd see the woman he had met as a young adult aboard the ship that rescued him. He'd see his wife waiting for him though he knew waiting tore her apart...

He'd see her again.

 _"Not if she sees you first."_

He turned at the sound of her honey-coated voice. " _Elizabeth_ ," he breathed, a smile gracing his face.


End file.
